


Seven Minutes in Heaven

by SpicyCheese



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, a dollop of perceived angst with a tooth-decaying happy ending, brief mention of underage alcohol consumption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29220819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyCheese/pseuds/SpicyCheese
Summary: How she got here isn’t really important. How she mustered her courage and showed up at the end-of-the-year party (her first party ever) just to prove to herself she could, how she took those two extra shots of tequila for the same reason, how she tipsily ended up inserting herself into a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven–  none of that is really relevant. What does matter is that the closet door just closed behind them and she’s mere inches from Kara fucking Danvers.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 42
Kudos: 323





	Seven Minutes in Heaven

*_*_*_*_*

How she got here isn’t really important. How she mustered her courage and showed up at the end-of-the-year party (her _first_ party ever) just to prove to herself she could, how she took those two extra shots of tequila for the same reason, how she tipsily ended up inserting herself into a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven– none of that is really relevant. What _does_ matter is that the closet door just closed behind them and she’s mere inches from Kara fucking Danvers.

Lena takes a moment to get her bearings. The tiny space is cluttered. Mothballed coats hang on the rack to her left encroaching her shoulder and various items and shoes take up much of the footprint of the room, forcing her to stand in place. She vaguely wonders what proper hosting etiquette is for Closet Rendezvous games- if Andrea should have cleared more space or if the obstacle course of storage items is part of the ambiance- but right now she has bigger fish to fry. Like the fact that the high school’s golden child of excellence has been forcibly shoved in here with her... and is currently not saying a word.

“Hello.” Lena starts, because manners have always been her fall back when she’s not sure what else to do. 

Apparently it is not Kara’s, because she still gets no response. None.

Not surprising really, considering Lena has only ever been cold to Kara’s friendly advances. Even from that first day, when Kara was assigned to show her around the school, Lena knew that frigidity was her only recourse. Because by lunchtime she was smitten and by the last bell she was so completely over the moon for Kara it was clear any further interaction was sure to end in heartbreak.

So it’s been 8 months of rebuffing smiles and tactically avoiding any and all interactions.

Until now. Of course.

The strip of light beneath the door is the only illumination, but as Lena‘s eyes adjust she sees that Kara's are actually closed, face contorted in barely contained discomfort.

“Um, if having me in here or is that upsetting for you-“

“– it’s not “ Kara says, shaking her head. “I just…” But she takes a short breath in through her nose. “Small spaces. Not my favorite. “

“Oh.” She frown at that. “Then why even come in here? Let’s just-“ she reaches for the door knob, but Kara catches her hand.

“I’m fine.“ And when Kara opens her eyes, she looks right into Lena’s. “I _want_ to be in here. With you.“

Now Lena is the one who can’t seem to catch your breath. That… she was not expecting. “Ok. I… okay.”

But it _isn’t_ . Because Kara fucking Danvers is 6 inches in front of her, still holding her hand and saying she wants to be smashed into the cramped closet with _Lena_.

And despite all logic, Lena’s treacherous brain cannot seem to reframe those facts towards any other conclusion than several wishful thinking scenarios. Scenarios that do not belong here in reality and should be exclusively saved for daydreaming in the comfort and solitude of her own bedroom. 

She needs understand, she needs to get these foolish ideas out of her head, but Kara’s hand is so warm in hers and just what the fuck is even happening? 

“SO!” Lena starts, loud enough that she startles them both almost. “Uh, this is a strange game isn’t it?” Lena looks down, to the side, but in the small space everywhere she looks is just Kara, Kara, Kara. 

“I believe the point,” Kara begins, slowly- voice going soft where Lena’s had gone loud. “Is to let the two people do whatever they want, in private, for the duration of the time. “

“I prefer chess,” Lena says quickly, not sure there’s enough air in her lungs to stretch it out further. “More structured. I like rules.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kara looks down at Lena’s hand still in hers, turning it slightly so her thumb rests on Lena’s knuckles.. “I mean, I know you like chess.“

“How do you know that?” And truly, it does come as a shock. _Is it just some weird part of the whole Class President/Editor in Chief of the Newspaper ability? Omnipotence?_

“I pay attention.” Then, “ I know a lot about you actually, Lena.”

She should be weirded out by that, but honestly Lena’s mostly stuck on the way her own name just rolled off Kara’s tongue. Right now it’s playing over and over in her mind, the only track she ever wants to play in her head from now on. 

Maybe it’s the darkness, or the stuffy mothball air clouding her rationale, or maybe it’s the way Kara’s thumb has started slowly tracing Lena’s knuckles back-and-forth over her hand, but she finds herself emboldened. “Prove it.”

For a second, she wonders if she’s gone too far, Kara’s thumb stalling out, a frown of concentration playing across the other girl’s face. But then, softly, “I know you like to use the Englund Gambit Trap whenever your chess opponent is a guy.”

Lena lets out a snort of surprise- because whatever she was fishing for, she was not expecting that. “It’s not my fault their fragile male egos can’t ignore the bait.” 

“I know you like Mechanical pencils,” Kara continues. “Specifically the cheap disposable kind, though you keep buying the refillable lead for them anyway.”

“They’re lighter,” she mumbles, at this point awestruck. “Tossing them out is so much waste…”

“- _And_ ,” Kara says, licking her lips, almost as if _she’s_ the one that’s nervous. “I know the way you look at me.”

And just like that, every wall Lena’s ever put up, every cold calculated bit of distance she’s put between them, is for naught. She’s caught, red handed apparently. She can see it now- by Monday everyone will know that _not only is Weird Lena Luthor a cold, stuffy bitch- she’s now a gay, cold, bitch who has the misplaced audacity of oogling the most popular girl in school_. 

“I've seen you watching me all year,” Kara continues, to Lena’s utter mortification. “And that’s why I want to be in here. I need to know _why_.”

Is this a nightmare? Did someone spike her drink? Lena’s head is spinning. She takes a step back, or tries to. Her foot catches on what could be a cord, or maybe the handle two of reusable shopping bags, but whatever it is causes her to lose her balance. She stumbles back the few inches, her body hitting the tacky wood paneling of the wall with a decisive thump.

A few drunken whoops ring out from the other side of the door at the noise, but Lena is more focused on the strong arms that shot out from nowhere keeping her upright.

She spent so much time and energy avoiding just this moment- this pinnacle of rejection- and yet here it is. Outside the room the party continues, music in the background over-laying a track of laughter and wasted youth. In here though, all she can hear is the bass of her own heartbeat. 

It occurs to her that if this really is all a nightmare, it’s about a need for catharsis and letting go of something that has eaten away at her for a full academic year. And either way, she only has one choice. The hard one.

“It’s because I like you.” Lena says, in a voice so much so much stronger and more grown up than she recognizes or anticipates. “In fact… I _like-like_ you.” 

The world pauses while Kara stares at her, studying her like their AP Chemistry textbook. Then, “I thought you hated me.”

“No. Quite the opposite.”

Kara looks down at the hand in hers, but instead of dropping it, she reaches for Lena’s other- now holding both in hers. “I… I like-like you too.”

“What.” _WHAT?_

“I like-like you,” Kara repeats, as if it makes any more sense to Lena the second time. She looks down at their hands, where the blonde’s thumbs are now reading the braille of Lena’s knuckles again, searching for- _something._ And all the while drifting closer. 

Lena feels weak. She’s already exhausted her supply of courage tonight so it takes all she has to look up, to meet Kara’s eyes again, to dare to believe this could be real. 

But it is. Kara is there, looking at her- really looking. “ _Lena_ ,” she says, eyes dipping a moment to Lena’s lips and if this is in fact a dream Lena never, ever wants to wake up. “Lena, I-”

It remains unfinished though, all hope evaporating as a cheap kitchen timer goes off outside and the door is ripped open. The blinding light startles Lena so hard she actually falls over- a fully undignified crash, arms tangling in coats, her foot fully ensnared in what she now sees is a vacuum cord.

There’s a peel of laughter but it’s Kara’s “Golly! Are you alright?” that Lena tries to focus on. 

“Yes, I…” 

She stops, turns. Through the open door she sees that everyone at the party, every one of her peers who’s stage-whispered insults she’s ignored all year- are tuned into the scene. All eyes on on her now, waiting. Waiting for Lena to embarrass herself. Suddenly it’s completely clear what’s really going on.

It’s a set up. This whole thing. 

She is such a fool. 

Ripping herself from Kara’s grasp, she shoulders her way out of the closet (in more ways than one now, unfortunately). The crowd parts easily for her because _There goes bitchy, stuck up Lena Luthor_ . _Too good for all of them. Can’t take a joke._

Outside the house, the late Spring air is warm and damp and makes Lena’s stomach turn. She’d taken a Lyft to the party instead of driving herself and is now cursing the decision. Cursing the decision to come here at all, to make an effort to be ‘normal’, to try and let the last 8 month of being a social pariah go by. When Andrea invited her that little voice in her head said it was probably too good to be true and god fucking damn it Lena hates when she’s right. 

_“Lena! Wait up!”_

Speaking of too good to be true, Kara’s voice calls out in the distance behind her. 

“No thank you!” she yells into the wind, because even in the face of this latest cruelty, manners still seem to just cling to her. 

“Hey! Hey,” and then Kara is there, stepping out in front of her, causing Lena to stop short. 

“ _What_ do you _want_?” and okay, manners can take a break for just a moment, because this is getting ridiculous. “You’ve all had your fun. I’m properly humiliated. Just let me leave!”

“What? No- this wasn’t… did you think this was a prank or something?”

Now she has to laugh. “Forgive me but when the prettiest, most popular girl in school just out of _nowhere_ says she _likes_ you, in front of the _whole school_ \- what am I supposed to think?”

Kara blinks at that, the annoyingly adorable scar Lena has always had an urge to smooth over with her thumb, crinkling with her frown. “Yeah, I… didn’t even think of that.” She bites her lip. “But you’re wrong. And it’s not out of the blue.”

“What.” 

Kara toes the dirt, making a little divot in the lawn they’re standing next to, looking as awkward as Lena feels. “I… I’ve been trying to talk to you all year. Trying to hang out with you. I thought you hated me. My sister, my friends, basically the whole school told me to just take the hint but," she takes a deep breath. "But I swear that first day we met- we just had this _connection_... so when you joined the game tonight, I… I had to know for sure.”

“Oh.” 

_Oh_. 

Oh _god_. 

Lena is an idiot. 

Kara looks up at her through blonde lashes, blushing and bashful and just as stunning as she was the first day they met. “So, yeah.”

“Yeah,” because she scored a 1600 on her SATs when she was 12 and has mastered verbal communication. Clearly. 

Luckily, Kara seems to pick up on her not-so-selective mutism. “Look, I don’t really want to go back to the party. Would you want to grab something to eat and just… talk? Maybe Mel’s Diner down the street? They have the best waffles…”

“Okay.” Lena has never been interested in waffles. She hates them, hates sticky syrup, hates the way they sit heavy as a stone in her stomach. And even given that, she has absolutely no doubt this will be the best meal she’s had in a very long time. 

“Cool,” and there’s that brilliant smile. The one that she’s seen beaming from Class President posters, and year books, and in her dreams many, many nights. “Shall we then?”

Kara offers her arm and Lena thread her own around it. They walk off down the street towards the neon glow promising breakfast-for-dinner and a talk almost a full year overdue. It still feels a bit like a dream, a bit like heaven actually and she, for one, is excited to enjoy much more than the prescribed seven minutes. 

*_*_*_*_*

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely added like three words when I realized this would come out to be exactly 2222 words long. Because that's fun. 
> 
> As always, feel free to come yell at me on Tumblr: Spicycheeser.


End file.
